Lately, the way I have mostly been listen to music is by playing it myself.

I used to listen to the radio when it suited the work I was doing, but rarely do now. I also have a large CD collection that doesn't get played all that much. You tube etc would add a bit too. But none of them are a noticeable chunk of the day.

The balance probably shifts around a bit, but right now it feels good to be just playing for pleasure. Not really putting in practice hours or specifically working on something, but just enjoying making some noises...

For pretty much a decade now, my music listening has been mostly making my own, due to lack of time or just plain needing more rest for my ears instead of listening to stuff much. My ears are ringing after practices or hours of mixing, not to mention listening to a roomfull of people at work all day, I usually do _not_ want to listen to any music after that.

Recently I have had to commute for 1,5h every day though so I have listened to much more music than in ages, though.

Basically, all I need is Spotify. I just hook up my smartphone and pick some albums on it and off I go.

And what I listen to...well, I have some friends who are much more music savvy than I am, and who have similar tastes as I do...and they are good enough to let people know what they listen to on their Facebook pages, so I usually go by those. Of course I sometimes pick some old favorites of mine, but recently, it's been mostly only those from Facebook.

One thing that has completely changed also is, can't remember listening to a full CD or such in a loooooong time now. I have owned Cd's in four digit numbers but they've all been hauled up in storage already years ago. I should throw them in the dumpster. Can't be bothered to sell 'em...I've tried, but these days people don't want CD's even if they cost 50c each, they're all just 'I got that on my iPod already' or 'I can download that for free' or 'That's on Spotify too'.

Spotify changes everything. Just the other day I sampled some of the new Van Halen, then some Fair to Midland for a bunch of songs, some Djerv, Black Country Communion, Blanko, Mastodon, Max Raptor, Michael Monroe, Foxy Shazam...all good stuff, including a few songs I will listen to again some day even.

There will NEVER be a need for me to buy any music any more, or CD's thanks to Spotify. I also have a 120Gb iPod chock full of music, something like 20.000 songs or so, but still I usually just use Spotify, it's easier.

And there will never be a need to listen to more than just one or a few songs by any given artist, because however good stuff you find out there, the next songs will be even better. There are likely millions of bands out there already so you could listen to a bunch of great songs every day and never have to listen to the same song again for the rest of your life if you wanted to.

I applaud that wholeheartedly; what could be better! Of course, it may kinda suck for bands trying to make a living, but it's time to do some pruning anyway. No reason to have a million bands out there survival of the fittest will likely kill off 90% of the bands out there and that can only be a good thing. I have long since decided I will distribute my own music for free anyway, in case someone wants to listen to it, or at maximum for price to cover the costs, no profit made.

I have a couple of my own bands on Spotify too, but I haven't even given them my account number because I'm not interested in the pennies they might throw my way at all. The future of music is it's gonna be just as free as TV programs etc...you'll be able to pay for some premium access services akin to cable TV or such, but basically music will be all free downloads just like radio in a very near future anyway.

Yesterday I saw a kid with his Dr. Dre beats on OVER his hoodie. Then I thought he's probably listening to an mp3 anyway, so the sound quality isn't that good anyway. Then again, he's probably listening to what those young whippersnappers call music, so no great loss in fidelity.

I have gone all digitial, all the time. Pandora, Grooveshark, Spotify on PC, iPod, Zune and Galaxy Tab.

Either pandora, soundcloud or youtube. Mostly youtube though. What i really lioke about youtube is times when you are getting lost there so you have an ability to explore unseen music. I found this masterpiece because i literally got lost and clicked random videos.
[YouTube]cchlCNlJUXw[/YouTube]
After so many years it is still my favorite song!

I have a Walker, Hi-Fi player for portability. Unfortunately, too many of the songs I moved over from iTunes are DMCA'd, so they won't play. Most do, but not some of my favorites. It sounds great to me.

For at home, usually the BT headphones and iTunes.

Sometimes, I'm listening closely. I'll listen for individual instruments: guitar, drums (these two are easiest to pick out). bass and rhythm guitar (these two are harder to distinguish from the rest).
I'll listen for changes in tone, tempo, etc.

I used to download music before but then Spotify happens so I just downloaded it and choose the genre of music that I am into. It is convenient playing music on the said app, especially when I am about to head to bed and I don't want to create a noise since my Persians are already asleep on their heated cat beds and they are light sleepers.